I Hate You, I Love You
by Imagination-Parade
Summary: An alternate ending to Booth’s funeral scene in “The Pain in the Heart,” along with Brennan's thoughts during the ceremony


_Hello readers! I hope you all are having a great summer! _

_This story is set during Booth's funeral scene in "The Pain in the Heart" and therefore, obviously contains spoilers for that episode. It's basically just Brennan's thoughts during the funeral, with a different end to the scene. I know this idea has probably been done before, but hopefully, I've added a new and humorous twist to Brennan's reaction at the end. I hope you all like it!_

_Disclaimer – Dialogue is borrowed from "The Pain in the Heart," and as always, Bones isn't mine._

* * *

"I knew Seeley Booth," Caroline Julian said. "He was a good man."

Temperance Brennan stood to the side of the casket that held her partner with her colleagues, arms crossed, fidgeting slightly. It was all she could do to keep from screaming. They had told her two weeks ago that he was dead, that she would never see her partner again, never bicker with him over religion or guns or driving privileges again. She didn't want to believe it. The funeral made it all real.

"Who earned my respect and affection," Caroline continued. "And I don't like many people."

Brennan frowned even harder as Caroline shot a glance in their direction at her last statement. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest even tighter. She didn't want to be here.

"Booth had a selfless commitment to his work, first in the military and then in the FBI," she continued. "Two weeks ago, he made the ultimate sacrifice."

_Oh, don't go there_, Brennan thought. Angela glanced in Brennan's direction, and Brennan fidgeted some more.

"Giving his life to save his partner," Caroline finished.

Brennan felt tears threatening to spring to her eyes, but she took a deep breath and fought them back. She wasn't going to cry. Booth left her. He didn't deserve tears. Angela gave her a sympathetic glance, and Brennan met her eyes for a moment before turning back to Caroline. Angela cast her eyes downward as she realized Brennan simply wasn't going to be emotional today.

"And in that brave act, he showed us what greatness we are _all_ capable of," Caroline said.

Brennan leaned towards Angela, unable to keep her comments to herself any longer. "That woman was aiming at me. I would've happily taken that bullet."

_Brave act_, she thought. _That was an act of stupidity! Who jumps in front of someone with a loaded gun?_

"I know," Angela said quickly.

Brennan went back to her sulking position, Angela looked back to the casket, and Sweets, Zack, Hodgins, and Cam all watched Brennan.

She knew they were all concerned about her, but she didn't care. She was seized with guilt, pissed at Booth for taking the bullet, and devastated because he did the one thing she thought he'd never do, he left her behind. She knew she should let everyone know that she was hurting, too, but she just couldn't.

"May God's mercy and love shine on Seeley Booth," Caroline said, laying the white rose on the dark wood. "As he takes his place beside the Lord."

Brennan almost groaned as Caroline brought religion into her eulogy. Booth's death only served to strengthen her belief that God did not exist. How could Booth have believed in someone or something that would let a great man like him die at only thirty-five years old?

"If there _were_ a merciful god, why wouldn't he have saved Booth?" she questioned aloud.

_Booth had a son_, she thought. _A little, innocent, six-year-old boy who now has to grow up without a dad._ That didn't sound merciful to her. Booth had a family, a life outside of the badge. What did she have? She had science and bones. That should've been her to die at the hands of that woman. Forensic anthropologists can be replaced. Fathers cannot.

The military drums started to play. The leader began to give his orders, and the line of soldiers standing behind her all picked up their guns and got them ready to shoot.

She didn't notice the man standing by the tree. She didn't notice as he moved towards the casket. What she did notice was a cry of "Excuse me" by one of the soldiers. His voice reminded her of Booth, and she felt herself tearing up again. She fought the tears back once again and focused on not giving in to her desire to turn around and leave and not deal with this anymore.

The soldier pushed his way through Zack and Sweets and grabbed the stranger with the white rose. After a bit of a struggle, the soldier managed to knock the man over with a punch.

"What the hell is going on?" Angela asked.

"They appear to be fighting," Zack replied.

The soldier and the man fell into the casket, knocking it to the ground and jostling the lid off the top. A white, male mannequin fell out of what was supposed to be Booth's final resting place. As the man and soldier hit the ground, the soldier's hat fell off, revealing the face of a very alive Seeley Booth.

Brennan was already outraged at the thought of a fight breaking out at Booth's funeral, but this did it. She felt two very conflicting emotions wash over her as she watched the man punch Booth over and over as the attendees gasped in surprise.

She acted on her instincts and sprung into action as Booth got to his feet. She grabbed an arm out of the casket as Booth kicked the man to the ground. He grabbed a gun, and she swung the dummy arm, hitting the man squarely in the face. She looked at him to make sure he was out and hurtled the fake arm at him, eliciting more surprised gasps from the crowd.

She turned and stepped towards Booth as he climbed to his feet once again. The two emotions that she later identified as astonishing anger and immense relief swirled through her as one side of her brain chanted "He's alive… He's alive…" over and over. The other side of her brain, however, was fueled by anger.

_That rat _bastard_! _she thought bitterly. _How the _fuck _could he do this to me? He's lucky I don't have my gun with me. I'd kill him. Why not? We're already at _his _funeral. It's not like shooting him now would inconvenience anyone._

"Bones," he said.

_Oh, don't you _dare _call me that now!_ she thought.

"Nice shot!" he said. He took a moment to stare at her as she breathed heavily, trying to decide what to do. "What?" he asked.

Astonishing anger won.

She advanced on him quickly, holding her arm behind her and swung when she reached him, grunting as her hand firmly connected with his face. He spun and hit the ground, and she stared at him for two heavy breaths before storming off, ignoring the shocked looks on her friends' faces.

She stormed away from the scene as thoughts raced through her head. Punching him was irrational. She knew it. She didn't care. He deserved it. Punching him was illogical. It didn't accomplish anything. She didn't feel better, she was still angry at him, and now her hand hurt like hell. She still didn't care. He still deserved it.

Brennan finally slowed her pace and stopped all together as the relieved side of her brain took over. She had been fighting with so many regrets and what if's about their relationship and what they could have potentially someday evolved into since they had told her he was dead. She hadn't seen him, spoken to him, in half a month. She couldn't just punch him and leave.

Brennan turned and walked back to the "funeral" with the same speed and intensity as she had left it with. Booth was just getting to his feet, and Angela was approaching him to make sure he was okay as some of the other "mourners" looked on with concern. Brennan pushed back the spectators that were in her way and walked towards Booth again.

"Don't hit him again, sweetie!" Angela called as Brennan brushed past her.

Just as before, she stopped a few steps away from her newly resurrected partner. Her face wasn't angry now, but the expression on it was no less intense than last time.

"What now, Bones?" Booth asked in an almost timid tone of voice.

Brennan closed the gap between them, placing a hand on either side of his face. Before he had time to react to her touch, she pulled his face down to meet hers, crashing her lips onto his.

She heard more surprised gasps around them as she kissed him roughly, parting his lips with her tongue. The aggressive muscle found its way into his mouth, and she softened the kiss as her tongue found his.

Her arms and hands went around his neck, holding him to her as he quickly reacted, curling one hand around her cheek, his fingers threading into her hair. His other arm wrapped around her body, pulling her length against him.

Brennan's ears faintly detected a delighted squeak from Angela and a few shocked laughs from Sweets and Hodgins as her kiss with Booth continued, their tongues waging a war inside the walls of his mouth. She knew they had an audience. Again, she didn't care.

He felt so good. His lips were soft but hungry, his body firm and strong against her. They kissed for a long time, passionately exploring the other's mouths. When air became an absolute necessity for continued survival, she pulled away with a loud pop and stared at him again, chest heaving just as it had when she had punched him.

His face was flushed, his lips were pink and swollen, and his eyes filled with confusion, shock, and excitement all at once.

"Bones," he breathed.

She stuck her index finger up near his face and spoke in a rigid tone of voice. "_Don't_ follow me!"

Brennan stormed off once again, exactly as she had before. This time however, she kept her ears open and focused on the people behind her.

"Wow," Cam breathed.

"What the hell was _that_?"Caroline asked.

"Striking Agent Booth was an act of passion…but then again…so was kissing him like that. Each act represents a very deep…but very _different_…emotion. I have no idea what the two actions combined mean," Sweets said, shaking his head.

"Who cares what it means? That was hot," Hodgins said, nodding.

"Should someone go after her?" Zack asked, looking towards Brennan.

"I would, but she told me not to, and I'm thinking now's not a good time to not listen to her," Booth said. He looked towards her best friend. "Angela?"

"I'm on it!" Angela said. Hodgins looked at Booth as Angela ran after Brennan.

"That was worth coming back from the dead for, huh?" Hodgins asked. Booth simply smiled in response.

"Bren!" Angela called.

Brennan kept up her quick pace even as she heard Angela running to catch her. Angela finally caught up to her, panting slightly as she slowed down and struggled to catch her breath.

"You _vixen_!" Angela exclaimed. "What was _that_?"

"I hate him," Brennan said.

Angela laughed. "Sweetie, with a kiss like _that_, trust me, you _love_ him."

* * *

_Don't get me wrong, Brennan punching Booth like she did in the show was hilarious, but I always thought it'd be even funnier if she couldn't decide how to react and ended up punching and kissing him within the same minute or so. _

_Please leave a review to tell me what you thought! _


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